Elastic is a Dutch-American software company that provides a platform for enterprise search, observability, and cybersecurity. Its products enable users to search and analyze large-scale data, monitor system performance, and detect anomalies. Originally known as Elasticsearch, the company was founded in 2012 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and has maintained operational headquarters in both the Netherlands and San Francisco, California. Elastic is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ESTC.
The company's technology is widely adopted across industries, with notable users including eBay, Wikipedia, Yelp, Uber, Lyft, Tinder, and Netflix. Elastic's offerings have evolved to include cloud-based services and integrations with AI and machine learning workflows.
History
The origins of Elastic trace back to 2004, when Shay Banon developed a recipe software application for his wife, who was studying at Le Cordon Bleu. He built the search engine Elasticsearch in 2009 and spent three years developing it with the open-source community. In 2012, Banon co-founded the company Elasticsearch with Simon Willnauer, Steven Schuurman, and Uri Boness.
After acquiring Found, a cloud-based search provider, in 2015, the company rebranded as Elastic. Although the company had been informally referred to as Elastic since its inception, the name became official only after the rebranding.
The company faced workforce reductions in recent years. In November 2022, Elastic NV laid off 13% of its workforce, and in June 2026, it laid off another 7% of its global workforce.
Products and services
Elastic develops a suite of software products, including Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash. Collectively, these are known as the Elastic Stack or ELK Stack. Elasticsearch is a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine capable of handling large volumes of data. Kibana provides visualization and exploration tools, while Beats and Logstash handle data ingestion and processing.
The company also offers Elastic Cloud, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, and Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE) for on-premises deployments. In addition, Elastic provides Search AI Lake and related services to deliver Elasticsearch capabilities for large data lakes, enabling organizations to perform searches and analytics on massive datasets.
Elastic's technology is widely used for enterprise search and observability, and its capabilities extend to anomaly detection and security analytics. The company has integrated deep learning and large language model features to enhance search relevance and enable natural language queries.
Corporate information
Elastic is a distributed company, meaning its workforce is spread globally. As a result, Elastic does not have a principal executive office. The company is registered with the trade register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 54655870, with its principal registered office at Keizersgracht 281, 1016 ED Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, though it maintains a significant presence in San Francisco.
Ordinary shares of Elastic are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol 'ESTC.' The company's distributed model allows it to operate without a central headquarters, which is unusual for a publicly traded firm.
Acquisitions
Elastic has grown through a series of strategic acquisitions. In 2015, the company, then known as Elasticsearch, acquired Found, a cloud-based search provider. In 2016, it acquired Swiftype, a provider of search and index software. In 2019, Elastic acquired Endgame, an endpoint security provider, for $234 million.
The company continued expanding its security and observability portfolio. In 2021, Elastic acquired build.security, which focuses on policy definition and enforcement, and also acquired Cmd, a company providing monitoring and control tools for Linux environments. On October 14, 2021, Elastic acquired Optimyze, a cloud computing company based in Zurich.
In 2025, Elastic acquired Israeli start-up Keep, an open-source AIOps platform for alert and incident response management stanford, and also acquired Jina AI, a company specializing in neural search and AI-powered solutions. These acquisitions reflect Elastic's strategy to integrate generative AI and machine learning capabilities into its platform.
Corporate structure
Elastic operates as a distributed company, meaning its workforce is spread across the globe. Consequently, the company does not have a single principal executive office. Its principal registered office is at Keizersgracht 281, 1016 ED Amsterdam, Netherlands. Elastic is registered with the trade register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under number 54655870.
The company's distributed model supports its focus on open-source development and community engagement, allowing it to attract talent from various regions. This structure also aligns with its cloud-based product offerings, which cater to a global customer base.
Technology and ecosystem
Elasticsearch is built on Apache Lucene and uses an inverted index for fast full-text search. The platform supports vector search capabilities, which are increasingly relevant in AI and large language model applications, such as semantic search and retrieval-augmented generation. Elastic's integration with machine learning frameworks allows users to build and deploy custom models for tasks like anomaly detection and natural language processing (not in list, use generative AI context).
The Elastic Stack is often used for log analysis, infrastructure monitoring, and security information and event management (SIEM). Its open-source foundation has fostered a large community of contributors and users.
Acquisitions
Elastic has grown through several strategic acquisitions. In 2015, the company, then known as Elasticsearch, acquired Found, a cloud-based search provider. In 2016, Elastic acquired Prelert, a machine learning company specializing in anomaly detection. In 2017, Swiftype, a provider of search and index software, was acquired.
In 2019, Elastic acquired Endgame, a cybersecurity company, for $234 million. In 2021, it acquired build.security, which focuses on policy definition and enforcement, and later that year acquired Optimyze, a Zurich-based cloud computing company. In 2021, Elastic also acquired Cmd, a company providing monitoring and control tools for Linux environments.
In 2025, Elastic expanded its AI capabilities with the acquisition of Keep, an Israeli start-up offering an open-source AIOps platform for alert and incident management. That same year, the company acquired Jina AI, a firm specializing in neural search and generative AI technologies.
Technology and AI integration
Elastic has increasingly integrated machine learning and artificial intelligence into its platform. Its anomaly detection and observability features leverage neural networks to identify unusual patterns in system data. The company has also introduced capabilities for vector search, enabling semantic search across large document collections.
These developments align with broader trends in deep learning and large language models, allowing customers to build RAG applications on top of Elasticsearch. The company's Search AI Lake service is designed to handle data lakes with high scalability, supporting AI workloads that require fast access to massive datasets.